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X-RAID Question & Expansion
I have recently upgraded my Ready NAS 6 Ultra Plus to OS 6.10.1. Started with 3 x 6TB WD RED NAS Drives and I am planning to expand by adding 3 x 4 TB additional drives I had around. However upon initial setup of an X-RAID (RAID-5) array with the 3 x 6 TB drives I went with horizontal expansion using the first 4 TB drive.. However I am noticing the available capacity of the RAID is not changing... I had 10.9 TB available with the 3 x 6TB drives and adding this 4 TB drive resulted in no expansion at all. This is a non-ecnrypted volume.
I did a factory a factory default with the 4 drives but the end result is the same... RAID is resycing but to a total of 10.9 TB. I had the impession X-RAID would allow for mixed drives to be part of the array.
Looking at the online RAID calculator, it shows the expected end capacity for this array should be 14.5 TB with no unsed space. However the whole thing seems to be behaving as traditional FLEX-RAID 5 array. Is this an expected behavior?
Regards.
Smaky wrote:
I have recently upgraded my Ready NAS 6 Ultra Plus to OS 6.10.1. Started with 3 x 6TB WD RED NAS Drives and I am planning to expand by adding 3 x 4 TB additional drives I had around. However upon initial setup of an X-RAID (RAID-5) array with the 3 x 6 TB drives I went with horizontal expansion using the first 4 TB drive..
One aspect here is that you can't always add a smaller drive to an existing array. Ideally the added drive should be as large as the largest drive in the array. In practice you can usually get away with adding a smaller drive if the size matches a drive that is already in the array (or was in the array in the past).
So the system wouldn't add the 4 TB drive to your 3x6TB array (unless you'd vertically expanded a 4 TB drive in the past).
Smaky wrote:
I did a factory a factory default with the 4 drives but the end result is the same... RAID is resycing but to a total of 10.9 TB. I had the impession X-RAID would allow for mixed drives to be part of the array.
It does allow for mixed drive sizes (and I think it actually is working).
With your mix of drives, the system is creating two RAID groups - a "base" group of 4x4TB RAID-5, and a second group of 3x2TB RAID-5. These are joined into one volume.
The NAS creates these two groups in order. The 4x4TB group has a capacity of 12 TB (10.9 TiB). When that one is finished syncing, the system will add the second group - which will increase the volume size to 16 TB (14.5 TiB). That second group will need it's own resync.
So wait for the first resync to complete, and you should then see the expansion step.
I think you will be able to add the additional two 4 TB drives later, though it would have been better to have done the factory reset with all six drives in place.
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Smaky wrote:
I have recently upgraded my Ready NAS 6 Ultra Plus to OS 6.10.1. Started with 3 x 6TB WD RED NAS Drives and I am planning to expand by adding 3 x 4 TB additional drives I had around. However upon initial setup of an X-RAID (RAID-5) array with the 3 x 6 TB drives I went with horizontal expansion using the first 4 TB drive..
One aspect here is that you can't always add a smaller drive to an existing array. Ideally the added drive should be as large as the largest drive in the array. In practice you can usually get away with adding a smaller drive if the size matches a drive that is already in the array (or was in the array in the past).
So the system wouldn't add the 4 TB drive to your 3x6TB array (unless you'd vertically expanded a 4 TB drive in the past).
Smaky wrote:
I did a factory a factory default with the 4 drives but the end result is the same... RAID is resycing but to a total of 10.9 TB. I had the impession X-RAID would allow for mixed drives to be part of the array.
It does allow for mixed drive sizes (and I think it actually is working).
With your mix of drives, the system is creating two RAID groups - a "base" group of 4x4TB RAID-5, and a second group of 3x2TB RAID-5. These are joined into one volume.
The NAS creates these two groups in order. The 4x4TB group has a capacity of 12 TB (10.9 TiB). When that one is finished syncing, the system will add the second group - which will increase the volume size to 16 TB (14.5 TiB). That second group will need it's own resync.
So wait for the first resync to complete, and you should then see the expansion step.
I think you will be able to add the additional two 4 TB drives later, though it would have been better to have done the factory reset with all six drives in place.
Thanks for your prompt response. I think I will then wait for the resync to complete. I am horizontally expanding the array as two of the 4 TB drives I will add to the NAS currently hold the backed up data of the original 3 TB 6 disc array. As soon as I complete the whole thing I will be able to use the 3 TB drives as my backup. But now I need to go one drive at a time.
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